Effects of respirators on performance of physical, psychomotor and cognitive tasks

Details

• Personal Author:
  Eberts C ; McCabe G ; Salvendy G ; Zimmerman NJ
• Description:
  A comprehensive study was conducted to investigate test procedures which could be used to determine quantitatively any decrement in work performance due to the use of a respirator. The subjects' responses were monitored while wearing three types of respirators and performing three tasks. The three types of work rates, physical, psychomotor and cognitive, were selected to represent the broadest spectrum of simulated work tasks. The three respirators chosen were selected to represent the more commonly used types in industry including a disposable dust mask, a rubber half mask with High Efficiency Particulate Air cartridges, and a full facepiece airline respirator in pressure demand mode with Grade-D breathing air supplied from compressed air cylinders. Effects on performance were noted in the physical work task, with increased exertion and in the psychomotor tasks with lessened steadiness and slower arm hand movements, but not in the cognitive tasks. In general, the tests did not differentiate well among the effects of different respirator types. These tests indicated that respirators appeared to have no effect on the performance of certain tasks such as cognitive and reaction time skills. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Ergonomics Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Respiratory Protective Devices Respiratory Tract Diseases Safety
• Keywords:
  Human-factors-engineering NIOSH-Grant NIOSH-Publication Personal-protective-equipment Quantitative-analysis Respirators Respiratory-protection Respiratory-system-disorders Task-performance Worker-health
• ISSN:
  0014-0139
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Indiana ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  321-334
• Volume:
  34
• Issue:
  3
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00202964
• Citation:
  Ergonomics 1991 Mar; 34(3):321-334
• Contact Point Address:
  Medicinal Chem & Pharmacognosy Purdue Univeristy Dept of Medicinal Chemistry West Lafayette, Ind 47907
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1991
• NORA Priority Area:
  Respirator Research
• Performing Organization:
  Purdue University West Lafayette, West Lafayette, Indiana
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  19830701
• Source Full Name:
  Ergonomics
• End Date:
  19891031
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:7171b63e5640acd3d9484d80c79a0958add4fdc79c3b9b120087cc551b1007a10ab396bb45c5d41e0dcfdba6870b9debcd383d68d329ba09498757c58bc39dbc
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/204567/cdc_204567_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 995.19 KB ]